when will the day restand settle soft, one day quietly leaning into another

fear forgotten ...love remembered

words spoken gentle and without pay

lunatics, come home to a place forgotten in flames of somewhere once over-troddenset still, cease picking at scabs inheritedleave dreams burning mad, and only you

judgers listen to the sound of more than seen Otherworld melody disturbing our peace carry lyrics that read like prayers of repentance ...for both us and them something so wrong, so horrid, so haunting, so hateful and treacherous owning those to be brothers and fathers sold by fathers

sorrow whispers, all is not wellOtherworld lowers itself more into our world bleeding out of control.on lonely streets crowded all remember at the hand of hatred, no, all is not well.

. . . and the future cringes at today fast approaching;a Son bends low yesterday, spits in blinded eyes wanting to seeyes son, the blind can still see.

:::::::

“There’s so much wrong in the world today.”

It seems each generation says this with more emphasis and groan. I listened to my grandparents talk about evil in the form of wars and armies fighting wicked men starved for control. Men demonized because of their lust for power and domination stopping at nothing to reach for it. I heard my parents talk about some of the same, but the enemy became some of them turned inward. Wanting all they could get in independence and personal freedom, homes eroded to kingdoms abandoned by those who should have been kings. Divorce rose common giving way for children devaluing home altogether while longing for what they never could have or keep.

One generation echoes the one before: so much wrong present today.

Quickly, we rally to hurt with those in Boston and pray for healing and safety reset again. We ring bells of alarm, disapproval and judgement in the Gosnell trial screaming, “monster” of man's damnable, predatory and atrocious acts against humanity.

And rightfully so, on both accounts.

I simply stand in your crowd, shoulder to shoulder together, but what’s on our collective mind connects us familial. There’s so much wrong swirling. When will it end? Does it end? If it doesn’t, how deep will it go and how close can it reach?

Friends, that is what frightens me and strips any apathy right off of my warm back. Evil’s reach right into my world and closer - right into the world of those names I know, those necks I hug and hearts I love. I pray for people I never knew compassionately and with a lonely pity, but fear and evil continue to billow out there in the distance away from those I love most. It can be a fearful thing to raise a child in today’s savage context. Evil lurks, broods and advances close seemingly with no fear of repercussion or boundary to stay it away leaving little safety or sacred in our lives.

Today a city wakes to a new day bathed in grief and unanswered questions. Within its borders, right near its center, bombs exploded ripping not only through life and limb, but tomorrow. And today a nation watches horror continue to unfold in the trial of a doctor who severed the heads of babies and performed late term abortions quietly for years.

I contemplate my position, pray for mercy and grace and gather myself to stand correctly. If judgement be my only response, then evil possibly only begets evil. The atrocious and ugly, the unholy and unjust, the wrong and evil - as a whole is much too large for me. My responsibility is not to right wrong, but to hurt with those hurting, plead for safety and justice with those needing it and sow love, goodness and beauty in every opportunity given.

Within my family, I can fight to eradicate the generational echo of so much wrong in the world today. Though I fear the world my daughters will stand to face and raise their kids in one day soon, I must remember that this day is theirs and trust that good will continue to buffet evil no matter how dark its clouds. Above all and in the end, good will swallow evil and God will redemptively make all things new and somehow right.

The big struggle is His to manage and bandage for now. Mine is to live these days given; to trust and live in response to trust in Him.

Much work needs to be done in each day grooming my daughters for all ahead. How they see me respond to my days, the good, the bad and the ugly, will largely influence the days belonging to them and how they live them.

As evil distorts and dismantles future's still waiting day, I affect culture as a parent living and building little lives now; speaking into days ahead, “there will be those who stand ready to love in darkness growing until all returns to rest and peace.”